Nearly 20,000 Afghans Rescued

Taliban Afghan

Over a year after they were driven out of Afghanistan, primarily by private organizations collaborating with the State Department, over 2,100 Afghan refugees are still detained in a vast facility in the United Arab Emirates.

They are the last of nearly twenty thousand Afghans who were hurriedly sent into the camp. They were pulled out during the tumultuous following weeks when Kabul was captured by the Taliban in August 2021. 

As a result, hundreds of thousands of Afghans who were rescued by private organizations were left in a terrible situation. They appeared to have no obvious way to get to the US or anyplace else. 

The Taliban Have Ruined Thousands Of Afghan Lives

Although the attempt to rehouse them has increased recently, the refugees within the EHC (Emirates Humanitarian City) complex are uneasy after nearly two years of languishing in a shelter from which they are not allowed to leave.

They have been prohibited from entering the nation sans a visa. Afghan evacuees were kept in the gated facility across hundreds of structures when they landed in the UAE in early August 2021. Afghans were spread among many multi-story structures, split by a common open area, in apartments with their loved ones. They planned to stay for a few days. However, for the more than 2,000 people who are still there, that period is already close to two years. 

According to the State Department, processing refugees outside EHC continues “continually.” A former American Marine who was directly connected indicated that every week, a few families go, mostly to the US, Canada, and Australia, with some also going to various parts of Europe.

Even at that rate, it could still require over a year to remove every last evacuee from the property.